We’re hard at work building the best chat app on earth for you. Earlier this year, we released our brand-new Android app, removed our waitlist and opened Beeper up to everyone! Since then, we’ve published a number of Android app features like archive (follow the fun in our Changelog). But we haven’t released many new iOS or Desktop updates. What’s the deal?
New Beeper Desktop and iOS Apps
The deal is that we’re in the process of doing a complete overhaul of our Desktop and iOS apps! We’re rewriting both apps to be fast and beautiful. The new iOS app is being built mostly from the ground up, while the foundation of our new Desktop app comes from the excellent Texts.com app.
Our goal with this rewrite will be to have Beeper clients available on all operating systems, featuring a consistent and beautiful experience. Both new apps will adopt the design language that debuted in the new Beeper Android app. The technical architecture that makes Beeper Android so fast is coming to iOS and Desktop as well! Read more about that on our blog.
Finally, we are continuing to migrate all connections to other chat networks from the cloud to a direct connection inside each app. We released a ‘local’ Signal (vs cloud) bridge in April inside Beeper Android. The new iOS and Desktop apps will feature 100% local bridges, which means that no cloud server is needed to send or receive messages. This will increase the security and privacy for Beeper users, and most likely enable more reliable connections. We’ll also be bringing these local bridges to Beeper Android.
The entire Beeper team is hard at work on this expansive project. We aim to have the first versions ready for testing later this year. In the meantime, expect to see fewer iOS and Desktop app updates as those teams will be exclusively focused on building the new apps.
Alpha Testers Wanted!
We’re looking for some brave friends to join us and help test early versions of these new apps. If you’re open to trying new things, have a keen eye for finding bugs, and willing to take screenshots of issues you spot, please apply to join our Alpha Test group. Unfortunately, we will not be able to accept all applicants at this time.
Apply to become an Alpha Tester!
Eric + Beeper team
Beeper Blog 
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